This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Vehicles are known to incorporate a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system to improve the comfort of the people within the passenger compartment of the vehicle. The HVAC system heats and cools air blown through the HVAC system using a heating heat exchanger and/or a cooling heat exchanger. The air blown through the HVAC system is drawn in via a blower unit which draws in air from outside the vehicle. The air then flows through the HVAC system where it is conditioned (heated/cooled) and then directed into the passenger compartment of the vehicle through one or more outlet vents.
The blower unit can include a blower motor and a blower control module that receives control signals from a climate control module to operate the motor at a desired speed. The control signal may be a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal. The blower control module may transmit a feedback signal that indicates the current speed of the blower motor to the climate control module and is used by the climate control module to monitor the speed of the blower motor. To effectively operate the blower motor, the climate control module may also need to know the overall operation status of the blower motor. For example, the climate control module may need information indicating whether the blower motor is operating normally or if a specific failure has been detected.